Palin Event In Austin, Texas

Thursday, April 29, 2010, my fellow Palinista and I drove down to Austin, Texas, to see Sarah Palin speak at an event hosted by Heroic Media. After about 3 1/2 hours we arrived in Austin and made our way to the Convention Center. I was interviewed by a local radio reporter and you can hear the interview HERE. I'm the first goober in the photo-line up.

Since we had an hour before the doors to the event opened, I suggested we go find a drink somewhere, but before that we had to get our pictures taken with the "protesters" outside. I use quotes because they were the laziest, most unoriginal protesters I've ever encountered. I walked over to them and asked if I could get my picture taken with them and while two girls obliged my request the rest just sat there. Well, hell, when I tell you to stand you better muthaf*kin' stand! I barked at them "to protest, damnit!" "You made signs now use them!" A few more jumped up but I could hear one guy mutter, "We're not a circus show, you know."

Yes, you are and you'll protest for my amusement and you'll like it, hippy.

The guy between the girl holding the "Pro-life for Iraq" sign and the "I got 99 Problems and Sarah Palin is all of them" is the one that bitched about them not being a circus show. He was also interviewed by the same reporter as me and he was as articulate there as he was with me. Look at his face. What.A.Baby.

Even though I yelled at them and then made fun of them to their faces, the kids were still nice enough to direct me to a watering hole where I could buy a Shiner Bock. Hell, they may be dirty, lazy hippies but they're my Texas Hippies and I salute them.

After my beer we went back to the Convention and stood in line to wait for the doors to open. I gotta tell you, Palin's a boon to commerce. Inside the Convention they had food and yes, a full bar. Not just domestic beer, but liquor and wine. I don't know if that's a Texas or Republican thing but there were definitely folks walking around with two cups in their hands and there were Stetsons sprinkled among the crowd.

We found a pretty good spot in the cheap seats ($50) and found out the two ladies sitting next to us were also at the Plano book signing. They recognized us from our early morning interviews. We reminisced about the freezing weather and they showed us their pictures they snagged of themselves with the Palin family. They totally trumped us in the who had the cooler book signing experience. Hat tip to them. The girl on the left might be the next Texas Gov.

We weren't supposed to record or take pictures but damn near everyone in there had a camera phone and while most appeared to comply with the rules you could see little blue and red lights scattered throughout the audience.

Palin's Cowboy Joke:

Palin's Entrance:

Palin got lots of lovin' from the audience. Gov. Perry introduced her and he received polite applause but as you can tell from the video the audience was holding out for The Cuda.

I tried to transcribe what she said, but I was too caught up in listening to her that I gave up and just enjoyed being able to see a live Palin speech. Heh, I found myself in a quandry: Do I look at her up on the podium or do I look at the screens that showed a larger image? I went back and forth between the two. Either way, I was stoked that I got to see her. Texas doesn't get love from the big politicos during election season since we're pretty blood red electorally, so I was a treat to see Palin here again.

Courtesy of Conservatives For Palin here's a better write up from a blogger who was also in attendance.

And here are some pics I snagged from a Team Sarah member. Not sure if she's the "author" of these but gracias to whomever took them!

Hey, dad in the center, yeah, you. Try not to be so obvious when staring at an attractive woman. Especially when your wife and kid are right next to you. Friendly advice, pops.

Palin was smooth, direct and succinct in her responses during the QnA. Perry tended to ramble a bit but he was decent. He appears to be super serious about something here. Bonus points for the black boots. The guy on the right, Arroyo, was a total mook and here he just looks happy to be next to the Cuda. He looks like the type of guy who'd invade your personal space at a mixer. And he's the type of guy who'd go to a mixer.

Fort Worth Is My Playground

Monday night, Chicago, Law Review and I decided to celebrate the last day of classes by going for a drink at Gloria's.

FYI their tacos are not as good as mine:

Being a weekend, the place closed at 10pm and being alcoholics, we migrated across the street to Boomer Jacks where they stayed open a wee bit longer. There we quenched our thirst and muddled up our motor skills by taking advantage of $2 draft night.

We got home well before our usual time and decided that this liquid courage shouldn't go to waste. I'll admit: I was the instigator, but Chicago was a willing participant. We decided to take our pictures with some well known statutes around the city; starting with the cowboy and steer right next to our apartment.

We then made our way to the Courthouse which unfortunately did not have a Lady Justice I could hi-five. We did go to the Water Gardens for a little cartwheeling which was a giant FAIL on our part. It basically consisted of us falling on our head and back.

Chicago fared just as poorly as I did.

Well, after that there's only one thing to do and that's go wading in water that every homeless person in the downtown area has probably relieved themselves in. I did not consider that at the time I jumped in.

Finally, the night wouldn't be complete with me jumping on the ivy covered longhorn in Sundance Square. I've driven and walked by this thing for 3 1/2 years and I've always wanted my picture taken on it. Tonight, folks, was the night this wish came true. After carefully looking out for the police bike patrols, I got a running start and BAM! crashed right into the side of the bull. I didn't think this plan out. It basically consisted of:

(1) Running At Bull

(2) ....

(3) Being on Top and Taking Picture

I left something out. So I had to get Chicago to give me a boost.

And 5 seconds later a bike cop appeared out of nowhere and simply asked, "Hey, whatcha doin' there?"

Nice lookout job, Chicago.

We explained why we were running around the streets at 1am and since it appeared he was bored and we didn't break anything (I'm shocked as hell that I didn't break off the horns in my attempt to jump up on the longhorn) he let us go on our merry way.

Bonus: He posed for a pic with me. Tip of the Stetson to the Ft. Worth Bike Patrol. Stand up dudes in my book.

Mission: Run the Streets of Cowtown like Steve Fontaine

Status: Accomplished!

postscript: We also Seran-wrapped Law Review's car. She.Was.Pissed. the next morning. Probably should've gone statute hopping with us, darlin', instead of going home early like an old woman ;)